Harry Potter & The Lords of the Mark
by kun1
Summary: This is in continuation to the fifth installment of the series written by J.K. Rowling. Right now I only have the first chapter, which I consider suspenseful enough to show on this site. Please do not be too impatient as I'm still schooling...
1. Escapes

Harry Potter & the Lords of the Mark  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Harry jumped up from bed; his scar tingling with the very same sensations that had almost cost him his life the previous year. His mind inevitably wandered off to his late Godfather, Sirius, whom he considered was the victim of his own stupidity and stubbornness.  
  
He had been practicing Occlumency every single night before he went to sleep, picturing the great big red wall that normally helped clear his mind. His dreams became much less frequent, and he was no longer feeling the overwhelming emotions of Voldemort searing in his scar.  
  
He stomped his foot, very much frustrated at the fact that he still could not keep his dreams out. Looking over at Hedwig's cage, he noticed that she was still absent from it. She had disappeared after delivering a note to the Order, telling them about himself being fine. Harry thought she might have gone back to Hogwarts to retrieve his OWL results, something that had not crossed his mind till now. It was nearing three days since Hedwig had left, and if he did not manage send a note to the Order by tomorrow, they would surely come by to see what had happened to Harry.  
  
"Just as well," he thought, "then I would be out of here sooner."  
  
Harry ruffled up his already untidy black hair, realizing that what he was thinking was extremely selfish and ignorant. He did not want to appear this way, but on the other hand he was infuriated that Ron and Hermoine still had not picked up their lesson last year, when he stormed about the house giving them the cold shoulder for keeping news away from him. This year, the same thing was happening; notes like "Be Patient" and "We'll tell you everything when you get here" were flooding in. His temper was rising steadily, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to last long under these conditions.  
  
"Pubertal nerves," he muttered under his breath. He found that whenever he did that he managed to keep his temper in check.  
  
There was a soft rapping on the windowsill; Hedwig had finally come back. She was carrying a package wrapped neatly in red and gold, presumably from Professor McGonogall. He was so pleased at finally receiving something substantial from the wizarding world that he emptied a whole packet of owl treats into Hedwig's feeding bowl. She cooed, extremely pleased with herself, and then started pecking at her well-earned treats.  
  
Harry ripped the package open, excitement pulsing through his veins as he realized it had more than his results in it. He soon uncovered a black box, what he suspected to be a new set of Quidditch balls. He dared not open it, afraid that the Bludgers would come flying out and wrecking his room. He saw a note, signed by Professor McGonagall, attached to the box.  
  
Dear Mr Potter, Enclosed to your results is a present from me and Professor Dumbledore. It is a set of Quidditch balls that your father left in Mr Filch's office, bewitched to explode in the face of anyone who dared use a vanishing charm to get rid of the rogue Bludger. I strongly disapprove of your opening it in your Uncle's house. Wishing you an early birthday.  
  
Signed, Professor McGonagall  
  
P.S. Congratulations on your exceptional results. P.P.S. The Order will come pick you up soon. It is unlikely that you will be meeting me or Professor Dumbledore.  
  
Harry looked up from the note, and spotted a light brown envelope sealed by the 'H' that stood for Hogwarts.  
  
Dear Mr Potter, Here are the results of your Ordinary Wizarding Levels tests that you took this June.  
  
Transfiguration E  
  
Potions O  
  
Divination D  
  
Astronomy A  
  
History of Magic D  
  
Charms O  
  
Defence Against the Dark Arts O Herbology E  
  
Care of Magical Creatures O  
  
Yours Sincerely, Griselda Marchbanks Wizarding Examinations Authority  
  
Harry could not believe his eyes. He had to read through his result slip twice before the contents registered in his mind. An 'O' grade for potions qualified him for taking it again next year. As much as he dreaded spending another year with Snape, it kept his Auror dreams pretty much alive.  
  
Auror... He continued thinking of what it would be like as an Auror, by then of course Voldemort would've vanished. Or would he? The ominous voice of Professor Dumbledore crept into his mind, "neither can live, while the other survives..."  
  
Harry woke up the next morning groggy as usual. He now did not need to do the dishes like last time, after Uncle Vernon found the boils that the Weasly twins had hexed onto Dudley's backside. It had taken a whole week of hospitalisation before doctors managed remove the purplish, throbbing and absolutely revolting boils.  
  
Uncle Vernon had taken the boils as a real warning, and Aunt Petunia had received a letter from Dumbledore telling her about happenings in the Wizarding world (Harry had known this because of her constantly asking him the meanings of terms like 'Muggles' and 'Animagus'). They now made it an option, or rather absolutely necessary for him to do his homework in a brighter, more cheery area that is the living room. Harry knew that they just wanted him to be there to save their own skins should anything magical occur.  
  
Harry was at the point of starting his History of Magic homework when he realised that he would not be taking the subject next year. He put the homework away happily, when a loud, echoing crack broke his concentration. He peered out of the window, and seeing that it was Aunt Petunia coming home with a huge bag of groceries, went back to his homework.  
  
Just as Harry took his head back in, he caught a black, shadowy figure at the back of the taxi she'd just come out of. He stuck his head out of the window once more, and seeing that the figure already had his wand raised, shouted for Aunt Petunia to duck. She turned her head around, and a green beam of light shot past her as she lowered her head, blowing off a chunk of the house. She seemed to have collapsed in shock on the front porch, and Harry had almost run out of the house when a grouchy voice he recognised as Mundungus' told him to stay in.  
  
Mundungus was trying to levitate Aunt Petunia back into the house when he was hit with a Cruciatus curse. He cringed on the floor of the lawn, helpless and in excruciating pain. 'Stupefy!' Harry shouted and slammed his back to the wall beside the window.  
  
"Want to play eh, Harry?" the cold, drawling voice of the Death Eater seemed to reach deep down into Harry's chest.  
  
"Want to end up like your dear Godfather, Sirius...." He continued to jeer as he came closer to the door.  
  
Harry could take it no more. The very mention of his Godfather by this filthy, dirty wizard made his blood boil. He braced himself for another shot when the door blasted open and a rally of curses came from beside the fireplace.  
  
Harry turned his head to the fireplace, seeing that members of the Order had jumped out of it in the nick of time. He turned his attention to the immobilised, stationary, slimy and disgusting creature lying on his Aunt's lawn.  
  
"Hi Harry!" beamed Mr Weasly.  
  
"Err... Hi..." Harry mumbled, thinking the statement was rather inappropriate for a moment like this.  
  
"Merlin's Beard!" growled Mad-Eye Moody, seeing Mundungus knocked out cold on the lawn.  
  
"I guess I'll be up there to pack..." Harry said weakly. "Oh no, no..." said a maroon haired old witch, whom Harry guessed was Tonks. "We're going to have to wait for them to come home first," she continued, throwing a glance at Aunt Petunia who had just been revived.  
  
"WHAT?!" Harry boomed, the fact that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Dursley coming with him had still not registered in his mind when the revving of Uncle Dursley's engines came up to the lawn.  
  
"I guess me and Fred have to go pick up the last one then?" quirked George at the opportunity to apparate.  
  
"Treat him nice George," Mr Weasly said, peering up from a calculator that Dudley had attempted to do his maths homework with. "And Harry, I've been rearing to ask you what is the function of one of these cacklelators? It doesn't really appear to cackle very well does it?" he continued, looking very perplexed at the presence of numbers on a device that was supposed to cackle.  
  
"WHAT IN GOD'S NAME HAS HAPPENED HERE?" bellowed the voice of a man not too pleased at having a chunk of his house blown off. Dudley and the twins appeared at the fireplace, with Dudley throwing up what appeared to be the contents of his tea. Tonks cleared it up with a wave of her wand.  
  
"Please Mr Dursley, sit down!" said Mad-Eye, apparently what he considered to be politely.  
  
"I DON'T NEED AN INVITATION TO SIT DOWN IN MY OWN HOUSE!" he screamed.  
  
"And I, sir, do not need an excuse to put some more boils on your backside," chuckled Fred. At this, Uncle Vernon sat down next to his trembling wife, turning a shade redder than before.  
  
"You will find that we have kindly packed up all necessary belongings of yours in these suitcases over here," began Mad-Eye, waving at a line of suitcases that Tonks has levitated down. Harry spotted his own suitcase right on the other side. "You will no longer be staying here, as you will find that this place is very much susceptible to attacks," he continued, this time pointing to the blasted door. "Any queries will be answered when we get to where we are going... For now, please put your hands on this..." he searched frantically in his pockets and pulled out an umbrella, "umbrella!"  
  
Harry watched as the Dursleys, without a whimper of resistance, disappeared along with the bags to Grimmauld place.  
  
He took a handful of Floo powder, and said in a puposely articulated voice, "Number 12, Grimmauld Place!" 


	2. Dursleys' Hell, Harry's Heaven

Chapter 2  
  
Harry stepped out of the emerald green flames into a foreign living room. Deep maroonish couches had been fitted into the living room, along with a dark brown timber table. The curtains had been patched up carefully, and looked rather new. Mrs. Black, the house banshee the last time Harry was here, had moved, or as Harry suspected been moved to a smaller portrait where her screams were magically silenced. Her old frame had been slashed all over.  
  
Harry was marveling at the change when Ron and Hermoine came tumbling down the stairs.  
  
"Harry, oh Harry..." squealed a shaken Hermoine. She proceeded to engulf Harry in a gargantuan hug, which Harry declined to reciprocate. Ron and Harry sheepishly shook hands.  
  
"I heard you were attacked..." continued Hermoine, "I thought... Oh Harry... That goodness you're safe." Hermoine hugged Harry again, and heaved a great sigh of relief.  
  
Harry looked over at Dudley, who was presumably looking around for a television, when the warning growl of Muckhead sounded from atop the stairs. Dudley was magically lifted by the collar all the way to the second floor corridor. He mumbled something about hitting Mad-Eye when a magical club appeared and hit his head down. He sulked and grumpily followed Mad- Eye to his room.  
  
"Mum, we're going to the shop.... Don't think Lee can manage the crowd all by himself!" shouted George to Mrs. Weasly.  
  
"While you're at it get me a new quill will you? Mines weathered out..." Mrs. Weasly walked out of the kitchen, and on seeing Harry, started beaming. Fred and George had already disapparated to their shop Harry knew was in Diagon Alley.  
  
"Come on Harry. Bag's already in your room." quipped Ron, already halfway to the stairs.  
  
"We've got loads to tell you..." said Hermoine, suddenly forgetting about the attack on Harry. Harry followed them with a bounce in his step, happy that he was finally going to get news about the happenings in the wizarding world.  
  
Harry went up to his room to unpack, but when he got there, Ginny and Luna were already chattering excitedly about Luna's holiday to Sweden. Hedwig called affectionately from the corner of the room, and Ron's owl, Pigdewigeon, started circling his head again.  
  
"What's she doing here?" Harry looked inqusitively at Luna.  
  
"And what was I doing at the ministry putting my life on the line?" answered Luna, obviously offended.  
  
"Luna's father, Harry, joined the Order after hearing of what Luna did at the ministry that night. Dumbledore thought it would be to our advantage if there were a medium to spread any news of Vol – Voldemort's return..." informed Hermoine.  
  
"Oh... Sorry..." mumbled Harry feebly.  
  
"Anyway Harry, as we were saying..." continued Hermoine, "we've got loads to tell you!"  
  
"The last time we heard, You-Know-Who's supporters got out of Azkaban along with the Dementors." Ron chipped in.  
  
"And giants were seen flocking out of their dwellings..." said Ginny, shivering at the thought.  
  
"They even attacked a mountain town!" exclaimed Luna excitedly.  
  
"That is utter nonsense..." said Ron.  
  
"No it isn't... My father interviewed those people personally." retaliated Luna.  
  
"Your father interviewed people who wanted their names on The Quibbler..." mumbled Hermoine. Luna scowled at the statement, but could find no words to answer.  
  
"Anyway..." Harry decided it was time for him to speak. He had been rather quiet all summer, preferring to stay quiet and think about his Godfather. In his mind, there was no way he could rid himself of the guilt of killing his own Godfather. He had often sobbed at this, but knew that there was nothing he could do about it.  
  
"Who was it that attacked me?" he completed his statement, amidst the murmurs of the others.  
  
"According to Fred, it was Macnair. That is if we could trust anything they said nowadays. They keep teasing us about not being of age to be in the Order..." Ron scowled at his brothers.  
  
"Anyway how's their business doing?" inquired Harry, fully aware that he was somewhat a shareholder.  
  
"Fine enough..." said Ron, "at least that's what mum told us when she found the vault full of Galleons!" chuckled Ron.  
  
"I even heard that Professor Flitwick has become a huge fan of some of their creations. Says that they are wonderful pieces of charmwork should another Umbridge like person come his way..." said Ginny, face blushing.  
  
"Ah... Then we shall not be able to use the Skiving Snackboxes in his class then?" joked Luna sheepishly, peering up from The Quibbler.  
  
"Oh put that book away already! You've been reading it for hours." Said Ginny, obviously irritated.  
  
Harry recalled last year, when he met Luna on the Hogwarts express, reading The Quibbler upside-down. He was feeling much better, after being updated about the happenings in the wizarding world. His heart jumped, noticing for the first time his Firebolt in the corner of the room.  
  
"Oh yeah... Dumbledore left it for you. Says the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher spotted it while unpacking." Ron said.  
  
"I wonder who he is... Speaking about school..." Hermoine said.  
  
"She's going to ask you how well you did for the OWLs. She got 'O' for everything. Not that it wasn't expected..." Ron interrupted. Hermoine threw a reproachful look at him.  
  
"I got 3Os, 3Es, 2Ds and 1A... Not bad by my mum's standards. But I suspect she lowered her standards after Fred and George came home with their results." Ron continued. "I got 4Os, 2Es, 2Ds and 1A..." Harry said, very much more cheerful than before.  
  
"Surprise that I got an 'O' for potions... I bet that's what you missed the 'O' out on..." quipped Harry.  
  
"Oh... All you needed to do was to work a little harder and you would have gotten much better results." sighed Hermoine.  
  
At that moment Mrs. Weasly stepped inside, informing them that dinner was ready.  
  
All 5 of them filed down to the kitchen, and Harry spotted Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon sitting at one end of the table, Uncle Vernon with his arms crossed and face redder than usual. Dudley seemed to be quite culture shocked; no television and video games must have been worst than anything in the world to him. His exercise regime that he had fixed up to regain his boxing title had been interrupted because of this. Harry felt sorry for him, because boxing seemed to be the only thing he was good at.  
  
Beef stew and Butterbeer flew towards the table, and Harry heard a chuckle from someone he thought very familiar. He looked over the stove, and standing next to Mrs Weasly was Dobby the house elf. Harry could see why Dobby was chuckling. The Dursleys, who were not too accustomed to having food flying to their tables, looked extremely disturbed and shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Dudley reached out for the beef stew, but the plate evaded his grasp as Mrs Weasly walked to the table with the mash potato and the coleslaw.  
  
"Manners boy... Don't you muggles have proper table manners?" she said, seating herself right next to Dudley. Dudley pulled his hand back stupidly, knocking over the just filled mug of Butterbeer.  
  
'Scourgify.' sighed Tonks. "Wonder what you people do without magic..."  
  
Aunt Petunia looked indigant at the insult of her dearest Diddle-Dums, but refused to open her thin lips in his defence. She ladled some of the mashed potatoes onto her plate, and finding nothing to critisize, went back to her plate. Halfway through dinner, Uncle Vernon surprisingly struck up conversation.  
  
"How exactly do you propose I go to work?" he started abruptly, "you don't expect me to simply appear of go through the fireplace do you?"  
  
"And why would you think that Mr Dursley?" replied Lupin.  
  
"Because there is not fireplace in my office..." said Uncle Vernon curtly.  
  
"Arr... I'm sure there's a wizarding home somewhere who's fireplace we can use... Don't worry about it Mr Dursley, we'll work it out tommorow," replied Mad-Eye.  
  
"I AM GOING TO WORK TOMMOROW!" boomed Uncle Vernon.  
  
"Surely not..." Lupin faked an incredulous look, "it's Saturday tommorow, and if you happen to be the type that works on Saturdays, we permit you to rest sir... In the meantime, I advise you to keep your temper in check."  
  
Uncle Vernon inaudible, and proceeded to jab his beef patty with unnecessary strength.  
  
"I think you will find that the beef is already dead. There's no need to kill it once more Mr Dursley." said Mrs Weasly, with a nonchalant look on her face. Obviously the Dursleys had never been so humiliated before, because Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia finished up their food and left the table quickly. Dudley, who was not quick enough to catch wind of anything, continued gorging himself. He soon started asking about tools to continue his exercise regime, telling them about dumbells and pull-up bars.  
  
"The only sport we play here is Quidditch." said Ron, biting into another piece of steak. "If you'd like it we could teach you."  
  
Dudley seemed to have shaked his head, but with his thick neck it was pretty hard to see.  
  
"Enough is enough boy. It's not the last time you eat you know..." said Mrs Weasly. Dudley was stunned when the food disappeared right out of his hands.  
  
Harry waved to Dobby, and Dobby waved back with a child-like enthusiasm. He made his way up the stairs, wondering what they would be doing the rest of the time here. Mrs Black was now mumbling in the tunes of "Muggles! Muggles in the once noble house of Black!" Harry laughed as he watched Dudley's stunned expression as when he heard the portrait screeching at him. He hurried up into his room, thinking he was seeing things.  
  
When he stepped into his room the three girls were already assembled, giggling about things Harry knew nothing of. The giggles supressed after a while. The attack on the Dursley's home had once again crept into his mind. Why would Macnair attack a helpless Aunt Petunia? Couldn't he have used her as a hostage instead? What was to happen to him now that the Dementors left?  
  
"What's going to happen to Macnair now that Azkaban's closed down?" Harry asked.  
  
"I think you're mistaken Harry, Azkaban's not closed down..." Hermoine answered.  
  
"Ministry of Magic officials guard the prison now..." Ron chipped in.  
  
"They've fitted bars, like in a Muggle prison..." added Ginny.  
  
"I heard that banshees are used for interrogation and alarm now..." Luna said.  
  
"What you hear is not exactly reliable Luna..." Hermoine replied, not exactly trying to gain favour. Luna scowled, but did not dare retaliate, knowing well she would be outspoken.  
  
Dudley stepped into the room, and looked stupidly at them before grunting, "Errr... Wrong room..."  
  
"What's that muddle head up to now?" Ron scowled, irritated.  
  
"Probably looking for some Jell-O..." Harry replied, knowing well Dudley's midnight snacking habits.  
  
"Jell-O?" Ron looked at Harry, seemingly thinking about something. Ginny sniggered.  
  
"I think he found his Jell-O Harry... Not his, Fred and George's" she siad and broke into fits of laughter. Harry laughed as well, but Hermoine remained belligerently quiet. Loud, monstrous burps issued from a few doors away.  
  
A loud crack sounded from nowhere, and Fred and George apparated into the room.  
  
"Nice one eh, Harry?" quipped George.  
  
"Not nice... Wicked! Flitwick would've paid to see this one work. He thought us the charm to make the slugs look like Jell-O and taste like Jell- O!" continued George.  
  
"My oh my! What trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" the loud, shrill voice of Mrs Weasly sounded in the corridor.  
  
Ginny and Luna giggled, while Hermoine stuck with her nonchalant, straight face.  
  
"I would think it's time for us to go to bed..." said Hermoine, stifling a yawn. The girls filed out of the room, and Harry and Ron were left to nod off a day's hard work. 


End file.
